Rotating printhead maintenance facility with tubular chassis

Abstract

A maintenance facility for an inkjet printer having a pagewidth printhead and a media path for feeding sheets of media substrate in a media feed direction. The pagewidth printhead has an elongate array of nozzles extending the printing width of the media substrate and the maintenance facility has a tubular chassis mounting in the printer such that it can rotate about its longitudinal axis and a plurality of maintenance stations mounted to an exterior surface of the tubular chassis. At least one of the maintenance stations is a wiper member positioned for wiping contact with the elongate array of nozzles.

1. A maintenance facility for an inkjet printer having a pagewidth printhead and a media path for feeding sheets of media substrate in a media feed direction, the pagewidth printhead having an elongate array of nozzles extending the printing width of the media substrate, the maintenance facility comprising:
 a tubular chassis mounting in the printer such that it can rotate about its longitudinal axis; and, 
 a plurality of maintenance stations mounted to an exterior surface of the tubular chassis; wherein, 
 at least one of the maintenance stations is a wiper member positioned for wiping contact with the elongate array of nozzles. 
 
   
   
     2. A maintenance facility according to  claim 1  wherein the tubular chassis is mounted in the printer such that its longitudinal axis is transverse to the media feed direction. 
   
   
     3. A maintenance facility according to  claim 1  wherein the tubular chassis and the wiper member extend the length of the elongate array of nozzles. 
   
   
     4. A maintenance facility according to  claim 1  wherein the tubular chassis is an aluminium extrusion. 
   
   
     5. A maintenance facility according to  claim 1  wherein the tubular chassis has a plurality of extruded parts configured to slidingly engage each other. 
   
   
     6. A maintenance facility according to  claim 1  wherein the tubular chassis has a generally rectangular cross section. 
   
   
     7. A maintenance facility according to  claim 1  wherein the tubular chassis has a porous material housed in its central cavity. 
   
   
     8. A maintenance facility according to  claim 6  wherein each side of the tubular chassis has mounting formations for engagement with corresponding formations on the maintenance stations. 
   
   
     9. A maintenance facility according to  claim 8  wherein the mounting formations and the corresponding formations slide into engagement. 
   
   
     10. A maintenance facility according to  claim 8  wherein the maintenance stations can mount to different sides of the tubular chassis. 
   
   
     11. A maintenance facility according to  claim 7  wherein the wiper member is mounted to the tubular chassis such that it wipes the elongate array of nozzles in a direction parallel to the media feed direction. 
   
   
     12. A maintenance facility according to  claim 11  wherein one of the maintenance stations is a spittoon with an absorbent element for receiving ejected ink. 
   
   
     13. A maintenance facility according to  claim 12  wherein the absorbent element is in fluid communication with the porous material housed in the central cavity. 
   
   
     14. A maintenance facility according to  claim 13  wherein the porous material is a porous rigid polymer. 
   
   
     15. A maintenance facility according to  claim 1  wherein the pagewidth printhead has a plurality of printhead ICs, each of the printhead ICs being aligned transverse to the media feed direction. 
   
   
     16. A maintenance facility according to  claim 1  wherein the wiper member is a plurality of wiper blades formed from resilient material such that a distal edge of each blade flexes when wiping the elongate array of nozzles. 
   
   
     17. A maintenance facility according to  claim 16  wherein the wiper blades are arranged in parallel rows. 
   
   
     18. A maintenance facility according to  claim 17  wherein each of the plurality of rows has a series of the wiper blades aligned transverse to the feed direction, the wiper blades in adjacent rows are staggered with respect to each other in the media feed direction. 
   
   
     19. A maintenance facility according to  claim 1  further comprises a maintenance drive connected to the tubular chassis for rotating it about its longitudinal axis wherein the maintenance drive is reversible such that the wiper member can wipe the elongate array of nozzles in both directions. 
   
   
     20. A maintenance facility according to  claim 1  further comprises a maintenance drive connected to the tubular chassis for rotating it about its longitudinal axis wherein the maintenance drive is configured to rotate the tubular chassis at variable speeds.